TAMPA, Fla. — “I think we built our program based on the standard. UConn is and was the standard in our sport. If you can beat UConn, you can beat anybody.” — Dawn Staley
We often talk about the need for individual stars in women’s college basketball, but the lifeblood of sustainability is programmatic rivalry.
The next chapter of an intense rivalry will play out on Sunday when UConn and South Carolina meet here for the national championship. There is no better way to end a sensational season than with a Super Bowl of a game between the preeminent programs in women’s college basketball.
And this game has it all. Student versus teacher. Old blood versus new blood. And perhaps the most complicated factor: an iconic male head coach who has assumed the throne in women’s basketball and a women’s coach who wants to take it back.
“I think certainly what’s happened at South Carolina over the last over the last seven, eight, nine years, they’ve played basketball at an exceptionally high level, when you think about the Final Fours that they’ve been to consistently in their program,” UConn head coach Geno Auriemma said. “The ability to win national championships multiple times, and to be in a position to win back-to-back ones, these are all things that are incredibly difficult to sustain in today’s day and age.
“We’ve already played each other once in a national championship game, so it does feel like the two most prominent programs right now in women’s college basketball are playing for the right to be national champions, and we both deserve it.”
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With three national titles, including one last year, Staley has built South Carolina into a formidable program that has achieved — no, defined — success in an era of Name, Image and Likeness, and the transfer portal.
Auriemma and Staley have known each other for decades. Staley was a senior at the University of Virginia in 1991 when her Cavaliers defeated UConn in the Final Four. Since then, their paths have crossed numerous times. They have worked together at USA Basketball, and they have met as competitors.
Their personal history has fueled the rivalry, but not dulled the sharp edges.
“What happened last year, isn’t going to be a factor in what happens on Sunday,” Auriemma said after UConn routed UCLA 85-51 in the national semifinal. “Our 11 national championships aren’t going to help us win on Sunday. So, the fact that we have Philadelphia connections, University of Virginia connections, and all that USA Basketball stuff that we’ve done together, yeah, that’s a nice story, but I don’t think Dawn’s going to give me any kudos or any breaks for, you know, senior citizen that I am. I think she’s not going to have any sympathy for me.”
Staley has never been defeated in a national championship game. When asked about the significance of that distinction, Staley said it was irrelevant.
“I don’t even bring it up,” she said. “I mean it’s just me being singularly focused on winning the game. Nothing that happened prior to here is going to help us on Sunday. Nothing is going to help us. Saying that we’re undefeated in the national championship game — I wish it helped. I wish it would spot us 10 points because we’re undefeated. I would feel really good about that.”
Auriemma owns an 8-4 record against Staley. Their postseason record is tied at one win each. Auriemma’s and Staley’s first postseason meeting came in 2018 at the Albany regional final. UConn won 94-65. Staley’s Gamecocks finally defeated Auriemma in 2020.
As if Sunday’s matchup isn’t significant enough, there is recent history and a multi-level revenge factor at play as well. UConn thrashed South Carolina in February in Columbia, South Carolina, 87-58. The loss snapped South Carolina’s 71-game home winning streak.
For UConn, Sunday’s championship game presents an opportunity to avenge a loss to South Carolina in the 2022 national championship game. South Carolina won 64-49. The victory snapped UConn’s 11-0 unbeaten streak in national championship games.
Perhaps the only pertinent question at this point is who needs a national title the most: Auriemma, UConn star Paige Bueckers or Staley?
UConn head coach Geno Auriemma (left) speaks with guard Paige Bueckers (right) in the second quarter against UCLA in the national semifinal at Amalie Arena on April 4 in Tampa, Florida.
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Auriemma’s legacy is set. He already has won 11 national titles. As he told reporters after Friday’s victory over UCLA: “I’m gratified as it is. If we win a 12th national championship, I don’t know that that has any impact on my life whatsoever other than it makes me feel that I’m still able to have an impact at my age, so it doesn’t impact my life that much.”
Looking in Bueckers direction, he added, “but you know it’s certainly impacting her life and what she wants and what she’s been dreaming about since she picked up a basketball.
“Anytime you could have a hand in helping someone who, when you were talking to them when they were 17 years old about what could happen if you come to UConn, and you’re in a position to actually be able to do it, I think that’s the most gratifying thing for me at this age in my life.”
A championship ring is clearly motivating for Bueckers, who has played in three Final Fours. Her only trip to the national championship game was the 2022 loss to South Carolina.
On Saturday, when asked about how a ring would impact Bueckers legacy, Staley said the narrative surrounding the UConn star diminished what her South Carolina team had accomplished.
“Sometimes we create these narratives about great players — Caitlin [Clark] was one of them; Paige is one of them right now — and we tend to forget the narrative about what our kids have been able to do, going for their third in four years,” Staley said. “There’s a sentimental narrative about Paige. A great freakin’ player. Anybody would start their franchise with Paige because she’s a winner. … But when you put a narrative out there, everybody sees that, and it puts us at a disadvantage, whether you want to believe so or not. Officials see it. It’s all over TikTok. It’s all over SportsCenter. It’s all over all of that.
“She’s a great player, but just because you’re a great player doesn’t mean you need to win the national championship to legitimize it. Paige is legit. Her career is legendary. She will leave a legacy at UConn whether she wins one or not.”
In terms of legacy, however, a fourth national championship may be most important for Staley. At 54, she continues to fly the flag for women, women of color and African American women coaches in particular.
After winning her second championship in 2022, Staley spoke about the pressure she felt to succeed. “I felt a great deal of pressure to win because I’m a Black coach,” she said. “Because if we don’t win, then you bring in so many other … just scrutiny. Like, ‘You can’t coach, you had enough to get it done but yet you failed.’ You feel all of that, and you feel it probably 10 times more than anyone else because we’re at this platform.”
For Staley to equal Auriemma’s 11 championships, she has to win seven more titles and perhaps coach for another 10 to 16 years.
While Staley is already the most richly compensated head coach in women’s basketball, winning a fourth ring — and winning a second straight championship, this time against a star-studded UConn team — will cement Staley as the face of women’s basketball.
When UConn faces South Carolina on Sunday, the stands will be filled with former stars from each team. But stars come and go. The significance of Sunday’s championship game is a triumph of two outstanding programs that have become rivals.
The rivalry echos across generations.
